Navigating through Negative News with Resilience
Mark Twain said, If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed. With limited human mobility due to COVID-19, our reliance on the news is more than ever for a comprehensive and unbiased account of information and updates about possible solutions/remedy. Yet, I hear people in my social circle tell me they have stopped following the news as it was inducing panic in them. Even before the context of COVID-19, our trending topics and reported pieces skewed towards incidents of unrest and painted a general picture of gloom. Whereas, statistical evidence points towards progress in our standards of living. Developing countries now have better medical, technological and, law & order systems than a decade before.
The business of news thrives on sensationalism and urgency. It is common to find reposts of articles on our social media or WhatsApp groups predicting a doomsday scenario, either due to lack of medical readiness or economic recession. There is little or no space spared in these write-ups for possible action plans/solutions. The attention a flaring headline gets is most likely the reason for prime-time news turning to Gonzo Journalism over reporting an objective and balanced account of incidents.
I recently attended a session by Catherine Gyldensted on the importance of Constructive Journalism. Gyldensted, spoke in detail about the blind-angle cognitive bias in human beings, where in case of a crisis, our objectivity gets overshadowed by an inclination to think that everyone is facing hardship and is miserable. In light of this compromised cognitive ability, sensational news reports might not be the sole reason for an increase in polarized, radical mindsets but, they do not support rational decision making either. Human cognitive biases of Deletion, Distortions, and Generalizations are dominant and often aided by this form of journalism. Our bounded rationality prompts us to pick certain(conspicuous) elements of a situation and delete rest. We can create a distorted perception basis this limited information and often generalize a trait as a person’s personality or consider one incident indicative of the current state of a social environment.
While media reportage is not in our direct control, we own our thought process and mindset. Behavioral science can help us become aware of our cognitive biases and reframe them to appreciate possibilities and hope.
Uncertain times like the current pandemic and reportage on rising cases around, certainly make it difficult for one to feel in control or positive without concern. It is natural and a sign of a healthy rational brain to be concerned under these circumstances. Resilience does not make an individual gleeful in denial, it helps one objectively analyze and bounce back from situations of distress.
“Resilience is the ability to navigate adversity and grow through challenges”- Dr. Karen Reivich
Optimism, a key factor contributing to inner resilience, comes with the ability to review a set of circumstance objectively. An optimist owns accountability for variables in control while accepting those which might be beyond his/her/their purview. Listed below are some tips to overcome cognitive biases and foster a resilient mindset through actions under our control.
- Overcome Thinking Traps of helplessness and catastrophizing: Informational deluge on dire circumstances around the world can trigger us to catastrophize the situation. Develop a nagging fear that this might impact everything in life. Magnifying a challenge limits our perceived ability to overcome it. Becoming aware of our thinking traps goes a long way in regulating them. Here are some simple mental agility exercises to check them:
- Challenge evidence leading to the self-limiting or catastrophizing thought: “Am I helpless and have no control?”, “In past, I have been able to…”. If you find yourself catastrophizing a situation, try looking at one specific challenge at a time and question generalizations or presumption based cascading effects.
- Reframe the context objectively: Review the facts and possible solutions for a holistic assessment of circumstances.
- Think of a contingency plan to overcome the worst-case scenario: Having a plan of action helps settle the mental rumination.
2. Foster Positive Emotions: Dr. Barbara Fredrickson’s empirical work on the broaden and build theory of positive emotions highlights how negative emotions narrow human attention, whereas positive emotions gradually build resilience through the expansion of individual thoughts and personal resources. Practicing gratitude and creating a positive stroke bank goes a long way in savoring positive emotions and adding them to our resilience armor.
3. Nurture Connects: Close interpersonal relationship/s create a sense of security and positive anchor for many, people can also find that anchor in spirituality. Supportive associations aid self-care and strengthen resilience.
4. Support Constructive Journalism: While Gonzo journalism has its place in investigative reports, in the interest of a progressive society, we also have an opportunity to give more space and attention to Constructive Journalism, which applies positive psychology techniques in news reports. It nourishes readers through stories that enable them to see opportunities and learn from survivors. By demanding and supporting comprehensive and constructive news reports, we can contribute towards creating a society with a positive outlook and outcome frame of thinking.
A key trait of resilience is the thinking ability to analyze a problem and look at it as a challenge instead of an obstacle. While we may not be optimistic by nature, positive psychology considers resilience to be a muscle that can be enhanced or built with practice. Like they say…“When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”.
